Rachel Row has been honing in her musical talent since she was 8 years old, and over the past several years, Rachel has been songwriting, producing, and developing her signature style. In 2006, Rachel began collaborating with KiNK (Ovum/Rush Hour) by providing amazing vocals and live performances. Rachel has defined herself and her sound as adding warmth to the dark sound of electronica. In her own words:

“I am really into the 90s UK rave sound – breakbeat, jungle and neo-techno. I like the idea of marrying this sound to the rich soul music from the 60s and inviting a bit of 80s pop music as the maid of honour…oh yeah, and a bouquet of classical vocals”.

Since 2003, Justin Martin, of Dirtybird renown, has been pleasing EDM listeners with a very unique sound. With an almost effortless groovy style, Justin combines elements of tech house and deep house, while adding his own flare. And with this remix of Rachel Row’s new song, Follow the Step, Justin has proved again why this funky sound is a force to be reckoned with.

Hungarian based tech-house virtuoso Jay Lumen released a series of heaters yesterday on Amsterdam’s longest running record label, 100%Pure, for his Play Cool The Old School EP. On this EP, Jay rocks classic House top sounds overlaid on sexy, spacey melodies. The tracks are a welcome dose of massive #techyes, and follow a massive performance at Space Miami over the weekend. The final track, Beat Drops (Take Me To The Garage) is a groovy dancefloor filler from start to finish, and Jay Lumen flips the vibe after the second drop for a tasty sound experience into Jack Beats progressive-wobble territory.

One of my favorite indulgences is to look at a piece of technology and imagine what it might be capable of in a decade. For example, the Generation 1 “1000 songs in your pocket” black and white iPod was released in October 2001.

A decade later (to the month, by the way), we met Siri on the iPhone 4S. Think about that for a moment. In 2001, a digital mp3 player was groundbreaking and forever changed the way music was listened to. A decade later, we have artificial intelligence in our pockets alongside 50,000 songs, books, movies, apps, and even a telephone too I’m told.

Now, another Generation 1 technology is beginning to flourish that has the capacity to forever alter our perception of the world. 3-dimensional printers. Best of all, their design is open-source. Open-source, as anyone not employed by the RIAA will tell you, is widely recognized as the single fastest way to advance development. In simple terms, there’s a lot less red tape and profiteering standing in the way because the creators freely give away their blueprints and designs so that other creators can then collectively gain knowledge to further create and share.

Separate teams in America and Belgium have already presented some amazing initial uses of these printers. Unfold, a Belgian collective from Antwerp, has transformed the art of pottery by creating a digital device that registers human interaction, allowing people to digitally mold clay into a desired form, which is then literally printed, in clay, before the viewer’s eyes.

On this side of the pond, a team at Cornell University has created the Fab@Home project. This team has devised a way to print edible food, and hopes to make food printers as ‘ubiquitous as the microwave’ with an eventual expected retail cost of only about $700. Imagine being able to craft a family recipe that your descendants can recreate exactly from the digital recipe you left to them, even hundreds of years later. Now imagine what this technology might look like in a decade.

Brothers Daniel and Andrew Aged have just released their debut full-length album entitled “no world” on 4AD Records. Blending their love of soulful RnB with tricked-out sounds, Inc.’s sound is at once mellow and striking, with airy vocals from Andrew and deep production nuances from Daniel. The brothers are celebrating their release with a whirlwind European tour this April. Enjoy their smoothed out sounds and support their music on iTunes.

One half of Drum n Bass group Instra:mental, UK-based Damon Kirkham has created a new project which embraces a new sonic range in the world of techno and electro. Producing and performing as Jon Convex, he creates eloquently groovy tunes that have been supported by the likes of Claude VonStroke, Gessafelstein, and Skream. Jon Convex’s arpeggiated rendition of Jimmy Edgar’s “Sex Drive” is one of his most brilliant tracks to date, and is available via Hotflush Records.

Nick Bertke is an artisan with sights and sounds, masterfully reworking famous movie clips into musical compositions. Utilizing dozens to hundreds of small loops, Bertke’s alterego “Pogo”, piece together the sound content from the clips into a montage wonderfully disguised as a song. He then further composes the looped images (with sound bytes) into a fascinating visual experience. I can’t even fathom the amount of time that goes into each half of the work, but Pogo has mangaged to publish over thirty projects, and counting. Releases include “Pulp Fiction“, Scooby Doo, and Disney’s “Up“. Speaking of Disney, listen carefully during “Upular” and tell me if you can discerne the hidden message.

Each one of these videos is breathaking, I highly recommend watching them all. The next one may be from a generation that doesn’t jive with EDM, but it’s a brilliant show and concept all the same.

Notable Comment: “With childrens’ shows like this, it’s no wonder my generation all grew up stoners” Also; “Skrillex is a band, they are good. Check them out.” Swear.